Constructing an Historical Narrative: Change and Continuity in Women's Lives in China

Abstract

This article explores the significance of historical narratives for teaching history in Australia in three ways. First, it contextualises some recent claims and assumptions about the nature and purpose of historical narrative with reference to developments in history teaching in Australia. Second, it explicates some features of a transnational narrative written for Australian students. This narrative on the changes and continuities in women’s lives in China is presented with an accompanying glossary as the third and final segment of the article. In framing the analysis in this way, the article aims to demonstrate that narrative portrayals of the continuities and changes of past ideas and events are always determined by the standpoint of the historian and, unlike recent claims, are open to critique